Courtesy Norwich, Middlebury, St. Michael’s and Castleton Sports Information Offices
Four Stories Follow …
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — The Norwich University men’s ice hockey team tied a season-high with seven goals in a 7-3 victory over Johnson & Wales on Saturday afternoon at Lynch Arena in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action.
Junior Coby Downs (Montclair, Calif.) had two goals and an assist, while senior forward Jordan Hall (Anchorage, Alaska) had two goals to lead the Cadets’ offense as they completed the league weekend sweep.
Freshman goalie Andrew Albano (Hamilton, Ontario) made his first collegiate start and picked up the victory after making 14 saves in between the pipes for the Cadets.
Norwich (12-2-1, 8-1-0 NEHC) scored twice in the first period and then added four more goals in the second period to pull away for the victory.
Hall opened the scoring at the 4:23 mark of the first period with a goal off an assist from Gabriel Chicoine (St. Dominique, Quebec).
Brett Ouderkirk (Monkland, Ontario) scored his fourth goal in the last five games with a power-play tally off assists from Connor Swystun (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) and Taeron Lewis (Winnipeg, Manitoba).
Freshman Philip Elgstam (Stockholm, Sweden) scored his first collegiate goal on the power play off assists from Braedyn Aubin (Woodstock, Ontario) and Downs.
Hall scored again off an assist from Lewis at the 9:03 mark of the second period to make it 4-0 Norwich.
Johnson & Wales got on the board at the 12:47 mark of the second period to make it 4-1 Cadets.
Norwich capped the second-period scoring with Downs scoring twice at the 15:27 mark and the 17:50 mark to make it 6-1 Cadets after 40 minutes.
Sophomore forward Noah Williams (Cortland, N.Y.) scored his third goal of the season at the 1:02 mark of the third period to cap Norwich’s scoring. Johnson & Wales added two late third period goals but it was too little too late as Norwich improved to 4-0-0 against Johnson & Wales in NEHC action the last two seasons.
Norwich returns home to Kreitzberg Arena to host Middlebury in a big non-conference matchup at 7 p.m. Middlebury beat Norwich 3-2 earlier this season in the PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut opening round.
MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury fell to visiting Wesleyan 3-1 in a NESCAC contest on Saturday, as the Cardinals took a two-goal lead midway through the second period and never trailed. The Panthers (7-5-0, 5-3-0) travel to fourth-ranked Norwich for a 7:00 p.m. faceoff on Tuesday, while Wesleyan (7-5-0, 5-3-0) is at Plattsburgh State at the same time.
The teams skated through a scoreless first period, with Middlebury goalie Adam Wisco coming up with a highlight-reel save midway through the frame. Wesleyan’s Matt Zandi carried the puck into the Panther zone along the right side and at the last second slid a pass through the slot to Andrew Pratt. Pratt fired a shot on goal, but Wisco dove back across the crease to deflect the bid away with his stick. Middlebury’s best chance to get on the score with two minutes remaining on a turnaround shot by Paddy Bogart, but he was stopped by Cardinal goalie Tim Sestak and Tyler Capello then pushed the rebound wide.
The visitors jumped out to a 1-0 lead 4:09 into the middle stanza, as Emmet Powell jumped in from the point and snuck a shot from the right circle behind Wisco. Wesleyan doubled the lead just over five minutes later when Tyler Levine swept in a rebound on a shot by Michael Kerbrat.
Middlebury got on the scoreboard three minutes later, cashing in on a power play. Bret Pastor fired a shot from the high slot that Cole Joslin tipped in at the left post.
On the first shift of the final frame, Middlebury’s Matt Danner hit the post with a shot and Capello got a jab at the rebound that Sestak was able to smother. Sestak later made a nice left skate save on a shot from Joslin as he skated in on the left wing, keeping it a 2-1 lead. The Cardinals added an insurance goal with 2:25 remaining, as Quincy Gregg set up Levine one the left side for his second tally of the contest just as a power play expired.
The hosts pulled Wisco for an extra attacker after the Cardinals were whistled for tripping call, but were unable to break through on 1:54 worth of 6×4 play to keep the final at 3-1.
Wisco finished with 26 stops for the Panthers, while Sestak had 19 with Wesleyan holding a 29-20 edge in shots.
Each team had three power plays, with Middlebury scoring the only goal while on the advantage.
SOUTH BURLINGTON — The Saint Michael’s College men’s ice hockey team fell to Nichols College, 9-2, on Saturday at Cairns Arena in the final non-conference game of the regular season.
RECORDS
· Saint Michael’s (8-6-1), Nichols (2-11)
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
· Senior William Santangeli (Oakville, Ontario/Saint Mark’s School), 1 goal
· First-year Connor Redden (Southbury, Conn./Team Maryland), 1 goal, 10-for-16 faceoffs
· Junior Brandon Mitchell (North Scituate, R.I./Pomfret School), 1 assist
· Sophomore Hugo Turcotte (Gap, France/Kimball Union Academy), 11 saves in 40 minutes
· First-year Alec Lindberg (Bedford, N.H./Hampton Roads Whalers), 7 saves in 19:57 of relief
OPPONENT LEADERS
· Sophomore Curtis Carlson, 3 goals, 2 assists
· Junior Nate Foster, 4 assists
· Sophomore Petr Miko, 1 goal, 2 assists
· Sophomore Kyle McDonald, 1 goal, 1 assist
· Sophomore Noah Poindexter, 1 goal, 1 assist
· Junior Matt Efros, 26 saves
GAME FACTS
· This was the Purple Knights’ last non-conference game of the regular season; they will now play 11 straight games against Northeast-10 Conference opponents.
· The Purple Knights held the advantages in shots, 28-27, and faceoff wins, 32-27.
· With Santangeli’s goal today, 18 different Purple Knights have scored so far this season, with no one netting more than six. Santangeli scored his second career goal, and first since Dec. 3, 2016.
THE ACTION
· The Bison got on the board early with a goal 46 seconds into the first period when the puck was stolen behind the net by Carlson, who passed it to Foster, who then passed to Miko for the goal.
· The Purple Knights tied the game up with 2:57 gone after Mitchell intercepted a pass in the offensive zone and passed the puck to Santangeli, whose shot from out front got past Efros.
· The Bison responded 17 seconds later with a goal by Carlson in front of the net after a pass by Foster behind the goal line.
· A penalty shot 40 seconds into the second period was taken by Foster, who tried to beat Turcotte to his right side, but the goalie held his position in the net and made the save.
· Nichols scored its third goal after Foster stole the puck in the offensive zone and passed to Carlson for the goal at 10:21, beginning a run of four goals in 9:21.
· McDonald incepted a pass in the offensive zone and found Poindexter, whose shot went past Turcotte for the fourth Bison goal at 13:06, and senior J.B. Baker extended the lead 1:34 later with a shot from the left circle that hit the crossbar and went straight down into the net.
· Senior Vincent Crivello stole the puck behind the net and wrapped a shot around the post into the net at 19:42.
· Junior Filip Virgili scored a breakaway goal with 5:20 gone in the third period before a shot by Miko was tipped into the back of the net by Carlson 1:22 later.
· Redden added another goal for the Purple Knights 11:35 into the period after he stole the puck in the offensive zone and backhanded a shot between the legs of Efros.
· The Bison scored their final goal on a power play with 17:42 gone when a shot by junior Oliver Arnberg hit the post and McDonald hit in the deflection.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
· Friday vs. Franklin Pierce University, 7 p.m.
CHARLESTOWN, MA. –– The Castleton University men’s hockey team’s bid for the weekend road sweet came up short on Saturday as the Spartans dropped a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) contest to Suffolk, 8-4.
Castleton led early in the second period, but the hosts scored six of the seven next goals to run away with the decision. The Spartans drop to 5-9-2 (3-5-1 NEHC), while the Rams earned their first conference win of the year and improve to 5-9-1 (1-6-1 NEHC).
Eight out of the 12 goals in the game were scored on special teams. Both teams scored three times on the power play and Suffolk got two more while shorthanded. In a game where the penalty box was often occupied, both teams committed 11 penalties for a combined 52 minutes.
Alex Kolowrat had the game’s only multi-goal performance with a pair of goals for Suffolk. Devin Lowe had a goal and two assists, while Shawn Montgomery, Griffin Clark, and Henry Bishop each assisted on a pair of goals. Nick Wardstrom, Brian Brooks, Nick Lachaine, Phil Kreuser, and Ryan Donnelly accounted for the other goals for the Rams, who produced their highest single-game goal total of the season and the most in nearly a calendar year.
For Castleton, four different goal scorers provided the offense: Mark Shroyer, Kyle Kazeroid, Nick Gravina, and Jacob Erwin. Conner Ladabouche had two assists, while Glenn Wiswell, Andrew Barber, Calvin Moïse, and Anton Tarvainen each finished with one assist.
Cal Wilcox earned his third win of the year for Suffolk in a 26-save effort. Brandon Collett was tagged with the loss after surrendering six goals with 25 saves in nearly 45 minutes of work. Kyle Alaverdy yielded two goals in 15 minutes of relief.
Erwin got his second goal of the weekend to kick off the scoring and give Castleton the lead just 99 seconds into the contest. Suffolk answered with Koloawrat’s first goal 1:49 later. Gravina scored on the power play to re-gain the Castleton one-goal lead at 1:49 of the second period, but Suffolk scored two straight tallies to take the lead. Kazeroid then tied it at three at the 14:47 mark of the middle frame.
The Rams got two goals within 18 seconds in the last minute of the second period to hold a 5-3 lead into the third period. Suffolk put it away with two more in the first nine minutes of the final period before the squads traded goals to complete the scoring.
Castleton returns to action Friday and Saturday, Jan. 17-18 on the road at New England College and Southern Maine.